Under Trump, the lines are drawn for a battle over resources in the West

Signal Peak Energy operates the West’s newest and largest underground coal mine. As recently as 2013, it employed more than 300 people, produced nearly 9 million tons of coal and was helping to revive a regional coal industry that had been dormant for 50 years.

The last four years have seen a sharp reversal of the plant’s fortunes. Production is less than half of what it was. Layoffs have reduced the workforce by over 80 people. This month the company, which declined requests for interviews, said it might have to close more of its operations.

The rolling highlands of Musselshell County, close to Montana’s Bull Mountains, have quickly become a fiercely contested front line in the Trump administration’s campaign to achieve what it calls “American energy dominance.”